{UAH} THANK YOU MR. JACK MA.

Barely five days ago, reknown Chinese entrepreneur Jack Ma (picture attached), made a pledged saying "To each of the 54 African countries, we will donate 20,000 test kits, 100,000 masks and 1,000 medical use protective suits and face shields."

I have just seen reports on several African news outlets around the continent saying that these much needed donations have started arriving in several African countries today.

From the people of Africa allow me to say Thank You Mr. Jack Ma.

Mind you this very morning he also announced "We will donate emergency supplies (1.8M masks, 210K test kits, 36K protective suits, plus ventilators & thermometers) to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. Delivering fast is not easy, but we'll get it done!"

I commend Mr. Jack Ma for this extremely significant gesture at this critical time. While other rich businessmen are taking advantage of the situation in their businesses (mostly by hiking prices of essential goods), here is a business leader showing the right humane example.

Systematic rapid testing across the continent is the best way to detect the disease early and contain it's spread, and now we are going to have a clearer picture of the true scale of the pandemic in Africa. I understand that ventilators are one of the only ways currently available to manage those infected by corvid-19.

However this great donation should not make anyone or any African govemment relax. We can and should procure more test kits ourselves so as to cover our respective populations entirely.

Remember that the most important World Health Organization recommendation on the corona virus is "Testing, testing, testing."

There are now even more options for test kits. A South Korean biotech lab company called Seegene is one of the first in the world to design a corvid-19 field test kit which is already in production and distribution. It is amazing that they achieved this exclusively using mainly Artificial Intelligence technology (AI) and without any live sample of the Corona virus. In fact in a Bloomberg news article they say that they only knew that their test kit worked after presenting it to their government for approval and the government tested it on real corona virus patients and found that it detected the cirus perfectly. Today there are news reports that South Korea has a further four companies that are manufacturing quick portable test kits for the corona virus.

Closer to home there is the Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal, a reknown French research institute which was once at the forefront of discovering HIV/,AIDS back in 1984.

They opened a branch in Dakar and today this research center is on the verge of coming out with the most affordable test kit option. The Institutes Director Mr. Mamadou Sall said recently that they are in the final phases of developing the portable test kit in partnership with a British company called Mologic. I understand that the British government is also runding this particular research as well. The amazing thing hear is that they are targeting poor countries and therefore want it to cost only $1 US Dollar per test. Clearly that will be a game changer in detecting and therefore containing the spread of the corona virus in Africa and the world.

Meanwhile, this social distancing & staying at home are not easy behaviours here in Africa. Many people need to go out and earn what they will eat that day. That is the nature of a largely informal developing economy. If we really can't stay home, then at least distance yourself at least 1 metre between you and everyone. A behaviour best learnt early now and in the easy way, rather than having grimmer circumstances force us to learn it the hard way later.

Again, Thank you Mr. Jack Ma (and China) for this kindness, and for the important donation that could literally save the lives of millions of people in Africa and around the world.

#FfunaFaceMask

Signed: Mr. Hussein Lumumba Amin

21st March 2020

Kampala, Uganda.

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